SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019 | 3B
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TheSiuslawNews.com
SHS
from 1B
struggled with offense and
understanding
their
defense and how to attack
it.”
Perry chalked up the
loss to the team’s Achilles
heel this year — mental
mistakes.
“In critical situations, we
just didn’t execute where
we should have,” said
Perry. “It shot us in the
foot in several games this
year that I believe — and I
know the guys believe —
we should have won. But
because of those mistakes,
it put us in a situation
where we ended up walk-
ing out with a loss.”
The Viks learned from
their mistakes, entering
Friday’s game against
Toledo with a newfound
spirit.
“We played probably
our best game of the sea-
son up to that point,” Perry
said. “We started executing
the way I knew we could.
We started to hit shots and
create shots for each other
that we’ve been preaching
the entire season.
“Everything was starting
to come together.”
Until it didn’t, due in
large part to Toledo senior
Conner Marchant, who
scored a whopping 38
points against Siuslaw.
“He was really, really
good,” Perry said. “He was
hitting threes, driving to
the basket. He’s six feet tall,
200 pounds, well built.
He’ll probably be playing
college basketball next
year. We tip our hat to him.
He made some really hard
shots and created a lot of
good plays. They had a lot
of open shooters on their
team and were very well
balanced.”
But the Viks didn’t give
up, keeping the score
hopeful throughout the
game. At one point in the
fourth, Siuslaw was only
down by three baskets. The
Viks tried to stretch for the
win, but Toledo pulled
away, winning by 15.
The fact that they even
had a shot against Toledo,
which reached the final
four in its division last
year, gave the Viks some
confidence going into the
final game of the weekend
against Samuel Robertson
from British Columbia.
Even though the Viks
were nursing a five-game
losing streak, Perry told
them that records don’t
matter.
“I don’t care if we’re 20-0
and going into the state
championship,” Perry said.
“None of that matters. The
only game that matters is
the game right in front of
us. Obviously, none of us
want to be where we’re at.
We all agree we should be
better than this. [Saturday
was] our day to prove how
good we are.”
And the Viks did just
that.
The game started off
slow at first, up only 1
point at the end of the first
quarter.
“I reiterated to them that
we’ve got to get going,” said
Perry. “They started pump-
ing each other up, getting
excited on the sideline.
They were playing for fun
and playing with a smile.
That’s when it started
going our way.”
The Viks started putting
on full-court pressure,
playing with extreme
i n t e n s i t y. S a m u e l
Robertson missed a couple
of shots, which created
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more excitement for the
Viks.
“It was just kind of a
snowball effect that con-
tinued the rest of the
game,” Perry said. “It all
finally clicked together.
The last three quarters, we
weren’t making our mental
mistakes. We were execut-
ing exactly what we needed
to do, and it reflected in
the score at the end of the
game.”
At one point, the Viks
were up by 32. Perry start-
ed playing the end of his
bench a little more, creat-
ing a small in for
Robertson, but by then the
win was a lock.
“We were playing
together,” Perry said. “We
were creating shots for
each other. We preach all
the time, “Don’t do it on
your own. Be good a team-
mate and work extremely
hard on defense.’ We have
the athletes to run up and
down the court. When we
believe it and we buy in
completely, and we’re all
playing hard for each other,
we can create really good
opportunities for our-
selves. And that’s what we
did.”
The Viks were stealing
throughout the night, hit-
ting their layups and hard
open shots. They were
also having fun.
“They’re a younger
group that hasn’t played a
ton of varsity basketball,”
Perry said. “A lot of times
they’re nervous and in
their own heads. You just
have to let go, play your
hardest and be a good
teammate. When they do
that, good things come of
it. That’s what they finally
did.”
Every basket was a cel-
ebration, with the bench
whooping and hollering.
“It starts with working
hard,” Perry said. “But
when you see that ball go
into the basket, your con-
fidence level shoots up. In
basketball, confidence is
everything. It’s a techni-
cally skilled game, proba-
bly the hardest high
school sport to be good at.
But when they started
understanding what we
wanted to them, it all
cliqued together.”
Perry praised Braydon
Thornton, who had a sea-
son-high of 25 points. “He
probably could have had
35-4 if he had hit some of
the easier shots he nor-
mally makes. He had an
exceptional game.”
Liam McClellan and
Brody Terry had 8 points
each, and Jacob Foskett
had 7.
“It was pretty well bal-
anced all over,” Perry said.
Tonight, Siuslaw will
play at Stayton High
School beginning at 7
p.m. Friday, the Viks will
play the Lancers at South
Umpqua, beginning at
7:30 p.m. Both games will
be broadcast on KCST
Radio 106.9 FM, begin-
ning with the Lady Viks at
5:15 p.m. (Stayton) and
5:45
p.m.
(South
Umpqua).
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